Kate Upton is featured on three covers of Sports Illustrated this year. Source: Sports Illustrated

24-year-old Kate Upton appears on three covers of Sports Illustrated this year. The model made her debut in the pages of Sports Illustrated in 2011, when she was voted Rookie of the Year.

This is the third time that the model and actress has appeared on the magazine’s cover. Only four other models have had this opportunity, among which Christie Brinkley, who this year, at the age of 63, posed for the swimsuit issue for the last time. Looking stunning in a black one-piece, the mother-of-two took the chance for the unique opportunity of posing with her daughters, 31-year-old Alexa and 18-year-old Sailor. “My first thought was, ‘At my age? No way!” The supermodel, who first was a cover girl for the magazine in 1979, explained why she decided to give it “one last go”: “On a personal level, I thought, if I can pull this off, I think it will help redefine those numbers and remove some of the fear of aging” she told People.

The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue of this year presents 32 women. Of them, five have been on the magazine’s cover previously, six are mothers, five are world renowned athletes and seven are being introduced for the first time. Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Editor MJ Day tells CBS that the women featured in the pages of this year’s issue are “a collection of change agents, pioneers, power brokers and breakout stars-in-waiting who have in their own way redefined the cultural conversation around beauty”, adding that the very essence of SI Swimsuit is the proof that beauty and character come in different shapes, all equally worthy of those terms.